Kedeba Reflections

On Thursday evening I got back from four days in Kedeba, centre of the Mundri East county, where three colleagues (Kpichwa Sismayo, Voice Chance and Eric Jaffara) and I had delivered a training workshop for people elected the brand new county council there. Whilst only about thirty five miles from Mundri, Kedeba is almost two hours across painfully bumpy dirt roads by jeep. And despite being the local administrative hub, its infrastructure makes Mundri look like a metropolis. The hospitality, warmth and passion for change shown by the councilors and council staff however, was fantastic.

Until the 2010 elections electoral democracy had been largely alien to the South. The last contested elections had taken place in 1986 so an entire generation of people who were either under 18 years of age or not yet born at that point, had been disenfranchised. Now the GOSS, under pressure from aid donors and keen to justify its impending statehood, is implementing the features of a Westminster style system, including a commitment to decentralized governance, with some provision made to integrate local traditional structures into the state. Previously civil servants called Boma administrators dealt with all government matters at village level in South Sudan and local Chiefs (formerly appointed by hereditary birthright and still a lifelong position, if now elected) dispensed justice. Now each and every Boma is mandated to elect a councilor every four years, with representation in the county Legislature.

Our training was a modest introduction to local government, governance, democracy and anti corruption (Sudan is routinely cited as in the ‘bottom 10’ most corrupt countries in the world. The factors contributing to this in the South mainly relate to a lack of infrastructure and accountability, issues GOSS is now actively tackling). Many of the participants in our training, their lives disrupted by Northern oppression and civil war, have never experienced the privilege of a settled, peaceful life. Like so many Southern Sudanese, people in Kedeba had spent many years of their adult lives hiding in the bush in order to avoid Northern soldiers, walking great distances daily and going days at a time without food or water, or in refugee camps and temporary homes in Khartoum, Ethiopia, Kenya or Uganda.

For their sacrifices and those in the war fought by the SPLA to have borne fruit in the CPA, the referendum and now separation is the achievement of a lifetime for many, the liberation that they have suffered for, and that many of their friends and family have paid the ultimate price for. Therefore the opportunity to contribute to the building of their new nation as elected officials is seen as a great honor and responsibility.

The significance of the situation was underlined further when the official Referendum results were announced in the week, with an absolute landslide of over 99% voting for Seperation from the North. The televised ceremony featured lengthy congratulatory contributions from EU, UN and African Union representatives but the result was all that is important to the Southern Sudanese. The mood of quiet jubilation was tempered later in the week by the shocking news of the assassination of a the GOSS Minister for rural development, Jimmy Lemi, In Juba. The councilors remained steadfast in their own resolve to give their all for the good of their communities.

We were engaged to deliver sessions on the democracy, good governance, local government and corruption (perceived as a major potential threat to the effective running of South Sudan). That’s quite a lot of ground to cover in a degree, let alone a four day course! However, we were focused in our work and both the process and the end results felt very positive. Furthermore my Moro language skills developed a bit over the course of the workshop and I learnt a massive amount about the ground level challenges faced by communities across East Mundi, so it was educational for me too!

The challenges the councilors will face in their roles are large. The local economy is small and most children never complete secondary education. Health facilities are limited and local girls walk for hours each day to fetch fresh water for their households. Furthermore many of the educated and successful migrate to better connected and resourced areas to seek their fortune. There is much confusion and corruption in local affairs of state. As the new legislature introduced to balance out the powers of the executive, councilors will have to deal with officials and chiefs used to doing things their way and unused to being accountable to others. Also the expectations of citizens to deal with problems such as lack of health and education services, communication infrastructure and abuse of the justice system may fall heavily on councilors.

Part of our training focused on empowering the community as active partners in the development process so that councilors could better support them and their workload is shared across their constituencies. We did our best to introduce practical tools that could be used to facilitate this, drawing upon the PRA (participatory rural appraisal) techniques pioneered by Robert Chambers, amongst others from both the Global North and South.

With so much to cover in so little time it was inevitable that there would be some themes left to build upon but the hunger for more from participants was overwhelming. Often in training you encounter jaded ‘professional’ workshop participants, who seem to have little time between conferences and junkets to practically apply anything they may have learnt. Mundri East is a world removed from that realm. This emphasizes the obligation to serve attendees of such training in the best way possible. To be invited to support these communities to develop themselves is not only a privilege, but a serious responsibility.

In the months to come as we work with other local officials, chiefs, young people and community groups in awareness raising and training activities I hope to not only develop my language skills to be able to do the work in the language of the people, but to gain a much better understanding of local realities to ensure that I am fulfilling my personal responsibility to the fullest extent.

During our time in Kedeba we also visited local youth who work with KAYA (Kedeba Active Youth Association) to discuss their concerns for the area. There is little to no engagement at present between youth groups and the government. With a massive under 30s population a proactive, clear and participatory strategy to engage young people actively in nation building and meet their needs for recreation, skills development and education, is a must. However with so many other competing priorities on the part of the state, where and when such outreach will emerge is questionable. Youth organizations for their part, on my initial assessment, whilst well placed to deliver effective programmes, have yet to develop advocacy skills in order to influence policy makers and articulate their demands. This area is one I am keen to explore with MRDA in the months to come.